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Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Picked up a 3# swarm in Hudson, NY 12434 yesterday -- ~10' up in a back yard pine tree -- sunny and 75 degrees.

The homeowner called back this afternoon and I went back to a cedar tree in their front yard, about 15' up, and picked up a 5# swarm, tightly clustered since it was drizzling and 70 degrees -- nice mix of wild hybrids; all sorts of colors.

Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Swarm.jpgBoth of my hives swarmed this past weekend. One on Friday the 11th the other was Sunday the 13th. I managed to catch the first swarm but could not get the second swarm in the box. After the second swarm I went in the hives to check for capped queen cells and made a nuc with one of the queen cups that had larva in it. I hope it takes off , will check in in about a week or two to see if it will hatch out.

Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

5/13 in a branch near Rochester, NY -- probably a swarm from one of my neighbor's hives. I don't have any idea how much it weighed. I'd say it was basketball sized! 75 degrees, the second day of some warm breezy weather after a stretch of cold.

Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Got some free-bees yesterday. Biggest swarm I've captured. I muffed it the first time (snipped the high branch and the whole thing fell apart and "reswarmed") but then it landed on a small shrub 100 yards away. The bees really resisted going into the box. The beard completely covered the front and one side of the hive, despite the fact that I had seen the queen in the box. It made me worry that she had crawled back out, but it got cold enough last night that they all went in. I will move it home tonite.

Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

You do what you gotta do.... After waiting for the "starter's pistol" for a couple of weeks and taking two calls yesterday about potential cutouts, I got a call from a guy who called me last year (where his swarm only hung out for an hour or so). This one, about 8' up in a cedar tree.... 4# or so, waited for me. I just transferred them into a top bar where I lost a colony over the winter. A little "pissy" but was drizzling yesterday and this morning. Elizaville, NY 12523.

Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

"Heeezzzzzz here...."

That's what they must have said -- I showed up at a house to scope a soffit trapout and as I was speaking to the folks, the colony swarmed. I quickly put a dab of LGO on a small branch and within seconds, they formed a cluster 2-3 feet away and higher. Don't know whether that's a coinsidence or not but I did not care. Went home, got my gear and now, all the girls are in a deep -- they almost filled it! (Waiting for all the scouts and stragglers to come home, I will go back and get them in the dark tonight.)

Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Amazing... got home from hiving one swarm and just settling down and got a call from 4 miles away for a 4-pounder 6' off the ground in a bushy little fir tree. Into the catcher box and back home in an hour. Into a hive tomorrow after I set up some frames.
Village of Rhinebeck, NY 12572

Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Observation hive swarmed at 15:45. Not happy and friendly either! Put my veil on and went to get some footage and took a dart to each arm. I will hive them later after they settle down. In full protection too LAWL!

Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Zip 13210 - Syracuse, NY
5/18 - Called for a large swarm 12' up in a pine tree. Arrived onsite only 1 hour after swarms arrival, but it had already moved on.
5/19 - Called about a swarm 15' up on the side of a retail building. Swarm arrived the day before (I suspect the same one as above, as the two spots are less than 1 mile apart.) Got some in the box, but the rest moved on on 5/20.
5/20 - Basketball sized swarm 10' up in pine tree, parent colony just 20' away. Present since 5/19... just as we positioned the ladder to collect them, they burst into flight. Followed them to a neighbors tree where they settled again. Dropped a good bunch in the box, and left them to get back to work. Returned a few hours later, and they had all left.